Zucchini Spaghetti and Meatballs

So I’ve tried spaghetti squash in the past, and in my opinion spaghetti squash is rather bland.But, I’ve heard wonderful things about zucchini noodles as an alternative to traditional pasta. I will admit I that recently purchased a Veggie Spiral Peeler and have been dying to try it out. This recipe was the perfect excuse to do so….

This recipe requires a bit of multi-tasking because in addition to making the zucchini noodles, we’re cooking the meatballs and sauce separately before combining them together. So put on your favorite music (or podcast), make sure its nap time for the kids, and get into kitchen ninja mode!

I just recently put this recipe together using variations of some of my favorites, and I just absolutely loved the way it turned out.

Let’s do a quick recipe overview so you know what you’re getting into here :

Zucchnini Noodles – 5 Minutes

I used a Paderno Spiral Veggie Slicer ( affiliate link) to make the zucchini noodles. A bit of an investment at $36, but I anticipate I will get a lot of use out of it and it will save me some time trying to do this manually( no, thank you!). When you’re done, set the zucchini noodles aside, no further cooking required.

Zucchini Noodles

Meatballs – 35 Minutes or Less

We combine grass-fed beef, garlic, ground almonds or almond flour, coriander, mint, cumin and cinnamon and a few other ingredients to give these meatballs a bit of a Mediterranean flare.The combination of cinnamon, cumin and mint makes for quite the flavor.

Once all ingredients are combined we shape them into about 20 2-inch size balls.

We cook the meatballs in a large frying pan with olive oil and a bit of water to keep the moisture in.

Marinara Tomato Sauce – 15 Minutes or Less

This tomato sauce is the easiest, best-tasting spaghetti sauce I’ve ever had. The first time I tried this recipe I couldn’t believe how delicious this sauce was it was and how simple it is to make! Three ingredients – yep three ingredients. Olive oil, fresh garlic and whole-peeled diced tomatoes. Well 5 ingredients – if you include the salt and pepper :-).

People, after you’ve had this you will never want to go back to buying the canned pasta sauce – ever. Besides, lord knows what other ingredients are hiding in commercially made pasta sauce( I shudder to think!)

We heat the olive oil, crush the garlic cloves with a large kitchen knife and saute the garlic cloves until they are a nice golden brown. Then we add the whole peeled tomatoes and cook that for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened. We add the rest of the olive oil, turn the heat up and use a wooden spoon to smash the tomatoes so the juices flow. Cook until the oil turns red and -boom! Done.

After everything is cooked, I combined the meatballs and marinara sauce together and served over my zucchini noodles.

Mmmmm…..now on to the recipe:

[yumprint-recipe id=’7′]And there you have it! A bit of a longer recipe post but you’ll feel so accomplished and definitely be a clean eating kitchen ninja when you’re done. I would love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments below.